Evils

ARTICLES ABOUT EVILS BY DATE - PAGE 4

El NiM-qo, the atmospheric force that suppresses tropical storms, might lose some punch as a result of an evil twin and global warming. So says Ben Kirtman, a meteorology and oceanography professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Kirtman is co-author of a study that shows there are two El NiM-qos. Both stem from an abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean. One, in the Eastern Pacific, creates wind shear that hampers tropical storms. It has kept this storm season rather mild so far. The other, in the Central Pacific, exacerbates drought conditions in Australia and India.

Four of the most memorable players in Big Brother history will turn up on Thursday's edition. Boogie Mike, voluptuous Janelle, Danielle and Evel Dick will analyze this year's edition. The latter might have been invited to remind viewers that if Natalie should somehow win, she won't be the most loathsome individual ever to capture the $500,000 grand prize. However, this is debatable. Dick at least worked at winning and had a personality, even if it was an obnoxious one. Natalie is a cypher, who has just sucked along, lucky that each week's HOH hated someone more than her. Speaking of which, isn't the belief in the house that Natalie has friends in the jury pool, who could put her over the top, a myth?

Homework has always been a student's worst nightmare. Whether we love it or hate it, we know it is going to be part of our lives as a student, teacher or parent. Homework allows reinforcement of lessons learned at school, as well as practice time students may not have during class. Yet, this year there has been a lot of brouhaha about the changes the school district has instituted in the amount of homework given. The district has left behind the old rules of homework and is setting some new rules as part of its new elementary school model.

Almost daily, we learn of new Ponzi schemes or methods that dishonest people use to separate the unwary from their money. We read about greedy CEOs, bankers and Wall Street types who garner millions from companies and institutions they helped bring to ruin. I am curious as to why people lie and cheat to amass millions. In the case of the Ponzi schemes, even families and friends are fair game. Some CEOs have no problem hurting loyal employees by bleeding their companies dry. I wish any greedy Ponzi schemer, CEO, banker or politician would enlighten me as to what their millions or billions can buy. Is the food prepared by your private chef more delicious and satisfying than the food prepared by the loving hands of family or friends of those without six- or seven-figure incomes?

Playing more like a highlights reel from an established franchise than a movie intended to launch it, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra interrupts its barrage of CGI action for only the barest minimum of anything resembling character development. Still, young audiences switched on to precisely this sort of entertainment should turn this futuristic, military-themed movie into a significant worldwide hit and help toy company Hasbro - also suppliers of raw materials for the Transformers films - to its second merchandizing bonanza of the summer.

The Kindly Ones. Jonathan Littell. Translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell. Harper. $29.99. 983 pp. "I am a man like you," cries Maximillien Aue, at the outset of this bulging, lurid tale, "I am just like you!" He might be overstating things a bit, especially as a former SS-officer who took seriously the task of improving the Final Solution's efficiency. For this and other transgressions Max is unrepentant. "What I did," he writes, "I did with my eyes open, believing it was my duty and that it had to be done, disagreeable or unpleasant as it might have been."

Whenever the evils of capitalism and capitalistic greed bring on their inevitable disasters, socialism and socialistic principles are called upon to cure the ills and save the day. Murray Romantz, Boynton Beach

If you?re a Florida attorney and you want to harshly criticize a judge, you better do it anonymously. That?s the upshot of the Florida Supreme Court?s actions this week regarding the October 2006 blog posting of Fort Lauderdale attorney Sean Conway, in which he called Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Aleman an ?evil, unfair witch.? The high court backed the Florida Bar?s $1,250 fine and reprimand against Conway. Earlier this year, the court signaled it might throw out the penalty on First Amendment grounds and review Bar restrictions on lawyers?

An impossible attempt to find the truth behind a terrible accusation, the consequences of both speaking out and keeping silent, and volatile issues of race, gender and religion fuel the action in Doubt, A Parable, which reopens tonight after an acclaimed run last December at the Caldwell Theatre Company. The Caldwell's compelling production of John Patrick Shanley's Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play takes place in 1964 at St. Nicholas, a Catholic school and church in the Bronx. The school's principal is Sister Aloysius (Pat Nesbit)

Having memorably explored the Caped Crusader's origins in Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan puts all of Gotham City under a microscope in The Dark Knight, the enthralling second installment of his bold, bracing and altogether heroic reinvention of the iconic franchise. An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some. That should also hold true at the box office, with Heath Ledger's justly anticipated turn as the Joker adding to the must-see excitement surrounding the Warner Bros.